Course Guidelines


YOU'RE HERE!
WELCOME TO THE SYLLABUS AND HOME PAGE FOR
THE COURSE 
INFORMATION, COMPUTING AND THE FUTURE
(IFSC 4301 and TINV 5302)

WHY?
  • Information, understanding it and using is key to the future
  • The computing field is undergoing rapid change
  • Biotech, nanotech, energy tech, and our society and culture are changing fast as well
  • The future is ahead, we're part of it, and is to our benefit to understand it ("knowledge is power")
  • Are you planning to live and work in the future?
    • Be aware of what the future may hold
    • Learn how to extrapolate from the past and present into the future
    • Those things are not only useful but interesting too!
Catalog Description
    Topics on information, computing, and their interactions with society. Emphasizes the history and present status of information and computing technologies and their implications for possible future changes in the field, the profession, and society. Topics may vary based on student interest and current events.

Learning Objectives
   After taking this course, students will be able to: 
  • apply standard techniques for foresight covered in class
  • communicate facility with a specific topic of their choice that they have investigated
  • communicate an awareness of technology foresight as a distinctive approach to thinking about technology and society
  • appreciate the experience of thinking about the future in a way informed by the body of knowledge of the technology foresight field.
Prerequisites
    None specific.

 Textbook 
    None. There is no once-size-fits-all textbook for this course. The Web is loaded with useful information, however. For example the US government produces a long term projection every 5 years (e.g. https://www.dni.gov/index.php/gt2040-media-and-downloads). Any readings not on the Web will be distributed in class as needed.

 Assignments
  1. HWs will involve readings, written comments, and searching the Web. (Grad student HWs will have an additional grad level component.)
  2. Students will each present to the class on a future-relevant topic. This may be an individual or group effort. It may be a slide presentation, skit, video, musical performance, reading or discussion of a short story that you write, or some other creative product. Students have done all of these in my classes and it generally works out well. 
  3. A term project will be developed gradually over the course of the semester as parts of the regular homework assignments. Usually it is closely related to your presentation. It may be a paper, computer program, script for a skit, video,  short story, or some other tangible creative product. You will be asked to develop this project gradually throughout the semester and hand in parts of it. It is good to develop larger projects one modest step at a time! Old Chinese saying: "A journey of a thousand li begins with a single step" (a li is about 1/3 mile if you were wondering). The target length, if it is a paper, is 3,000 words.
  4. Typical assignments will be worth 100 points.
  5. The term project itself that you hand in will be worth 200 points.
  6. The presentation (which will relate to the project) is also 200 points. In-class student presentations will be in the last two class sessions of the semester. Online students: You can give your presentation -
    • through Blackboard during class time (last two classes of the semester); or, 
    • you can send me any visuals for me to display in class while you talk via your phone during class time (last two classes of the semester); or,
    • you can record your presentation on Blackboard and let me know (in time to potentially play for the class during the last two class sessions); or
    • if none of the above work you can contact me about scheduling a time to present it to me over the phone.
  1. If you must be absent from a class or cannot hand something in on time due to illness or some other reason, please contact me for alternative arrangements.
  2. This course has students of potentially different levels and backgrounds. This is good and can lead to interesting discussions and perspectives. It also means that student effort will be a significant factor in grading of assignments. This way everyone, no matter what your background and preparation, can do well. This course is open to all. Welcome!
    3.
Assignment of final grade in the course: 
89.5%   - 100%    -- "A" Everyone can get one if they work at it. 
79.5%   - 89.49% -- "B" 
69.5%   - 79.49% -- "C" 
59.5%   - 69.49% -- "D" 
50%      - 59.49% -- "F" 
  • The maximum grade on a regular assignment is 100%. The minimum is 50% (for something not handed in)
  • Standard lateness policy: 10% off the grade on any assignment handed in up to 1 week late. 25% off assignments that are very late.
Academic Integrity
Attendance Policy
    The university is currently requesting instructors to drop students who have not been participating in class. This is to comply with federal financial aid regulations. Attendance is one way to satisfy the requirement of "Regular and Substantive Interaction" (next paragraph). However, if you wish to drop, it is risky to assume every instructor will do it for you, because some won’t. For online students, obviously the situation is a bit different. See the section “Regular and Substantive Interaction” next.

Regular and Substantive Interaction
·        The instructor is Daniel Berleant, PhD.
·        The course website is http://informationcomputingandthefuture.blogspot.com/.
·        Availability: by email to thehumanracetothefuture@gmail.com for a response within 24 hours. If for some reason you do not receive a response in 24 hours please send a reminder. Email is often best and fastest. Also right after class is good, as the instructor will already be there and available. You can also make an appointment, or even stop by my office, covid permitting.
·        Attendance is one type of regular and substantive interaction and is discussed under the heading “Attendance Policy.”
·        For many more gory details see https://wcetfrontiers.org/2016/09/30/interpreting-regular-and-substantive-interaction.

Inclement Weather, Instructor Illness, & Other Unanticipated Disruptions
  • The course adheres to the standard campus weather policy. See https://ualr.edu/policy/home/admin/weather. Note that night classes may be treated differently from day classes by the university, depending on the weather. Any cancellations or partial cancellations (for example, cancellation of in-person meetings but not online meetings will be posted to the university home page. 
  • For instructor illness class cancellations, this has not happened in a long time, but I haven't had covid yet, so you never know. In this event the course will continue as normal, except student should view lecture recordings (linked from the syllabus) instead of attending any cancelled live class sessions (whether they would have been in-person or by webcasting).
  • For other emergency disruptions, the course will continue as normal, except student should view lecture recordings (linked from the syllabus) instead of attending any cancelled live class sessions (whether they would have been in-person or by webcasting).
Students with Disabilities
  • Your success in this class is important to me, and it is the policy and practice of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have a documented disability (or need to have a disability documented), and need an accommodation, please contact me privately as soon as possible, so that we can discuss with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) how to meet your specific needs and the requirements of the course. The DRC offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process among you, your instructor(s) and the DRC. Thus, if you have a disability, please contact me and/or the DRC, at 501-569-3143 (V/TTY) or 501-683-7629 (VP). For more information, please visit the DRC website at www.ualr.edu/disability.
A few resources about the future
A few other resources about learning about the future 
(from Jay Gary, School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University)

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